Marked inflammation in catastrophic longitudinal myelitis associated with systemic lupus erythematosus

A. C. Heinlein, Elie Gertner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Catastrophic longitudinal myelitis is an extremely rare neurologic manifestation of collagen vascular disease, described heretofore in 11 cases of SLE and 1 of Sjogren's Syndrome. This report documents markedly abnormal and worsening CSF findings on sequential CSF examinations over a period of three days (WBC > 1500 cells/μL, >80% neutrophils, markedly elevated protein, and extremely low glucose levels) in the absence of infection. These abnormalities cleared rapidly with institution of immunosuppressive therapy so that a third CSF exam done within three days revealed almost complete normalization of CSF values. These findings suggest that in some cases of CLM a strong inflammatory component may be present, while in others, other pathogenic factors may predominate.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)823-826
Number of pages4
JournalLupus
Volume16
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

Keywords

  • Antiphospholipid antibodies
  • Cerebrospinal fluid
  • Longitudinal myelitis

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